‘Equalizer’s’ Hero Improves Odds on His Own Survival

The bar was on the third floor of an old brick warehouse on the West Side. Inside, a young man held a gun to another’s head and looked at the gray-haired, barrel-chested man in the overcoat who sought to intervene.

“So you’re ‘The Equalizer,’ ” the young man sneered.

The man in the overcoat spoke quietly. “My name is McCall,” he said.

The gunsel was unimpressed. “You don’t look so tough.”

Not quite Shakespeare, this. But it has kept Edward Woodward, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company, on CBS for three seasons. He plays McCall, the tough yet eminently civilized former secret agent who, as a private citizen, evens the odds for crime victims seeking justice.

The star of “The Equalizer” is, as admiring critics have noted, an improbable TV hero--a middle-aged Englishman of impeccable dress and manners who stares down doom and rights wrongs in America on most Wednesdays at 10 p.m. (Tonight the series is preempted for the Grammy Awards.)

It is not every season you see a former Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts student stare down doom. Diana Rigg last did it in the ‘60s in “The Avengers.” But Woodward, 57, considers himself fortunate to be doing anything.

Last July, while “The Equalizer” was on hiatus and he was nearing the end of work in a miniseries called “Code Name Kyril,” Woodward suffered a heart attack. He awoke at 5 a.m. in agony.

Contrary to cliche, his life--which, besides the Royal Shakespeare Company, includes more than 2,000 TV productions in England and the film “Breaker Morant”--didn’t flash before his eyes.

“No, the thoughts were sort of strange, really,” Woodward said. “I actually thought, ‘Please, I want to die.’ Because the pain was awful, and I just wanted to get out of this pain.

“That’s all you think about.” He grinned. “Not matters of great pith and moment.”

Rushed to the hospital, he spent 12 days there, the first four in intensive care. Then he was sent home, under instructions to rest, relax and generally stop and smell the roses for a while.

He did that and now appears quite hale, showing no effects of the seizure. He has quit smoking--a heart attack being nature’s way of suggesting that such a course is a good idea.

“That’s why I’m chewing this bloody awful gum now,” he said, somewhat wistfully. He briskly chomped away at all times, save when working.

He was working a lot that day. He had reported at 10 a.m. to the permanent “Equalizer” set, which shares space with a freight company in a warehouse and consists of a bar, McCall’s apartment and several rooms used for a variety of scenes.

He did three rehearsals, then three takes of the bar scene. Then came lunch, followed by the recording of some off-camera dialogue, and then some rest. That night, he filmed outdoors at Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan.

When doctors cleared Woodward to return to work last October, “he was limited to six hours a day, four days a week,” said executive producer Jim McAdams. “But he has virtually doubled the time now. The show’s pretty much back to normal (filming) now.”

The Universal production had already shot five episodes for this season before Woodward’s heart attack. It was originally scheduled to resume filming last August, but the star was still recovering. A delay was ordered and efforts were begun to keep the series alive.

Robert Mitchum was brought in to guest star in two episodes. Actor Richard Jordan was hired as Woodward’s sidekick in villain fighting. That was done to lighten Woodward’s workload when he returned.

(By “mutual agreement,” Jordan will film one more episode in which he is featured, then will leave the series, having asked out of it, McAdams said. “He was quite a gentleman about it,” he added.)

CBS officials probably did think of ending the show after Woodward was stricken, McAdams said.

“I’m sure at one point it may have crossed their mind early in the situation, because nobody at the time knew whether Edward could work at all this year,” he said. “It was really in the doctors’ hands.”

Once the doctors gave the OK for his return, albeit on limited duty initially, a new filming plan was worked out--one that resumed production two weeks late.

It made an already tight schedule even tighter, McAdams said, “but I think they (CBS) really gave us a strong vote of confidence.”

Now the producer and Woodward are awaiting another vote of confidence: a renewal for a fourth season. The show ranks 50th among the 87 prime-time series that have aired on the three networks this season. (Woodward’s father-in-law, Roy Dotrice, awaits a similar vote; he plays the beast’s father in CBS’ “Beauty and the Beast.”)

“We are disappointed we haven’t got it (the renewal) yet,” McAdams said. “That’s not directed toward CBS, though; it’s just one of those things.”

Woodward, who lives in England and keeps an apartment here, was also antsy, but equally philosophical: “You can’t even plan to go home. But it happens every year; it’s become part and parcel of the job.”

Does he want a fourth season?

“It’s not a question of do I really want to, it’s a question of what I’m contracted to,” he said. “I’m contracted to five years, so if it goes to five years, I go with it. . . .

“If they (CBS) don’t pick up (the series), I shall be equally happy to go on and do other things.”

Be it the ax or the go-ahead, Woodward has definite plans for how he’ll spend the time between completion of this season’s final “Equalizer” episode and July.

“I’m not doing anything,” he said. “I’m just going to rest and go boating and relax. I’ve learned my lesson.”